StLouisCruisers

Thank you. I found out this morning DH's sister is on the Nieuw Statendam for 21 days leaving tomorrow.I doubt they asked for a Wave.

Thanks Karen for the report on your DH. The beginning was a bit scary but the ending turned out quite well. 🙂 Hopefully you can get him moved to the local hospital very soon. 🏥

Thanks Lenda for the weather report in Dallas. There's a chance of rain but let's hope not. DH says the schedule shows today's game is at 1 pm CDT. My time 2 pm and it should be over around 3:40 my time. Guess they could start the game earlier today due to it being a holiday from school.

Good morning friends! Well, I haven't looked outside but it's supposed to be 66 now with cloudy skies and a high of 77F. I saw occasional rain showers listed on my app for various times during the day and evening. 🌧️ I see some large storms to the west and northwest of us. Thanks to our leader Rich @richwmn for today's Fleet Report and Daily. I hope you're having a very good time visiting Tangier, Morocco today. I have never been there before so will be checking out your (and the other) Live From threads. Besides it being Good Friday today we have quite a selection of days to celebrate. Caramel popcorn day, International Beaver Day, and National Beer Day. Caramel popcorn is fine but I don't go out of my way to find some. Probably not good for my dental work. Thank goodness beavers aren't seen around our parts because we have enough critters running around (or slithering around). National Beer Day. Well, since DH used to work in the beer business that should be a popular one here. This week has decided to change his preferred beer and make another beer his preferred beer. Some of you may have decided the same thing, others not. Maybe it will be Dos Equis next time we buy beer. He also likes Guinness Foreign Extra Stout but it is hard to find here and a bit expensive. Discovered it on a recent cruise. I like the quote and the grilled swordfish should be popular but I would decline it. Makers Mark Manhattan should do well at the bars and the Sauvignon Blanc sounds good, too. The port of the day is once again Saint John, New Brunswick Canada. We can all be confused on the St. or the Saint, the John or the Johns, Newfoundland or New Brunswick. This one is the one near Jacqui @kazu. I will post the links to the last two times it was posted here, on November 19, 2021 and December 15, 2022. I personally have not visited Saint John so have no photos to share today. I hope some of you can show us what Saint John is like. Jacqui @kazu posted some information and provided photos for us on Nov. 19, 2021, post #13 FYI. Prayers for all today on the Care list and many people who are suffering around the world. Hoping that Annie's @marshhawk tests for her adrenal gland tumor turn out well today. We will keep her in our prayers! 🙏 As for the Celebration list, three cheers for those experiencing happy events and wonderful cruises. A special shout out to the FC Dallas team winning their 4th game this week. Today is the semi-final against a huge rival, Solar. Wish them luck!⚽ Safe travels to Gerry and DH @ger_77.🎉🥂 Wishing everyone a safe, happy and Fantastic Friday!

Good Friday Today is Caramel Popcorn Day, International Beaver Day, and National Beer Day I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.--Markus Zusak, The Book ThiefMeal Suggestion for today - Grilled Swordfish with Tomatoes and OreganoDrink of the Day - Makers Mark ManhattanWine of the Day - Oberon Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley, CaliforniaDestination of the Day - Saint John NB, New Brunswick Canada Eurodam Ocho Rios, Jamacia Koningsdam Dry Dock Vigor Ship Yard until 4/12 Nieuw Amsterdam Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos 08:00-14:00 Nieuw Statendam Half Moon Cay, Bahamas 08:00 - 15:00 Oosterdam Oranjestad Aruba, Netherlands Antilles 08:00 - 17:00 Rotterdam New York City, New York d16:00 Volendam Bridgetown, Barbados 08:00-18:00 Zaandam Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico Riviera 07:00 - 15:00 Zuiderdam Tangier, Morocco, Tanger-Ville 08:00 - 17:00Eastern Hemisphere Noordam Sydney, NSW Australia 07:00 - 18:00 Westerdam At Sea destination Kobe/Osaka depart16:00 4-08 Sandi for Rich and Roy

Yes it is.

Quarterfinal game over for tonight. They played a team from Utah that Ren's Tigers' team had played against about 15 months ago in Orlando at ESPN Wide World of Sports so they were familiar with him. 1 to 0 at halftime (FC Dallas). Ren went in sometime during the second half, first as right wing, then they switched him to the center forward position where he had a better chance of scoring or assisting someone to score. He did get one assist and the final score was FC Dallas 3 to 0. On to the semifinals tomorrow night! Yay FC Dallas! This team was a tough one and they prevailed.⚽

What a shame you both had to come down with this, but luckily you're not traveling this week or next. I remember I had a fever about that high for one day. Hoping you both feel much better very soon! Hoping your test results come back with good news and that your spot hasn't gotten bigger. I would have had to cough too while I was supposed to be still. I have that chronic cough problem that crops up at the most inopportune times. Hope you got that nap in - you deserved it! Lucky Sarah! Everything looks so good! Love the tartan dress! Looks beautiful! So glad you liked the door sign I made Sharon. I'm sure the tape will work out for you too. Good luck! Unbelievable this flight was cancelled while in flight again. Did they send the plane to Atlanta again? Crazy! Thanks for letting us know. Nice to get a good look at it.

We enjoyed the Volendam in November-December for 28 days in the Amazon. And our next cruise is the Zaandam for the very first time this summer. I have no qualms about these two ships and actually prefer smaller ships to newer larger ones.

Rich, have you run into anyone who went to the Hassan II Mosque while in Casablanca? We walked there from our drop off point and took some beautiful pictures of the outside. It is huge, and so is the huge plaza around it. Very impressive and beautiful! Quite a walk though so I'm not sure I would want to walk there again. Of course, I was 5 years younger then!😳

Thank you, I'm glad you like the idea. Yes, I made each one individually for each cruise with the ports listed. If it was a B2B I just combined it all into one poster. I found the Cruise Critic logo online and copied and pasted it to a Word document. Then filled in the rest. It was certainly handy for keeping track of upcoming ports! And yes, that's what we said about him not bringing his wife down to see the poster. He told DH he might forget where it was! Take a picture on your phone, buddy! One day at lunch in the MDR they took us to a table for two a foot away from another table for two, and guess who was sitting right there? Yes, the robber and his wife! We declined the table and told the DR manager exactly why. We had an enjoyable lunch elsewhere in the DR.

I just posted about my door signs I make for my cruises over on the door decoration thread in case anyone is interested in reading it and seeing photos. Nothing flamboyant or easily flammable like some people are discussing there. DH is currently at the grocery shopping for us and said I should stay home and relax. Yesterday I went with him to the dentist office and waited outside an hour, then we went shopping and out to lunch together. Normally we go to our dental appointments alone, especially since DH doesn't like waiting around in the car like I did yesterday. I came prepared with a magazine and Sudoku puzzles so it was fine. Wow, that's awesome! Thanks for sharing with us. Maureen, it's nice you could write up the announcement for your dear friend. I can tell you would do an excellent job of it. You show such concern for all of us and never complain about the difficulties in your own life. Thanks for Ren's congratulations. Hope he slept well, and is eating and hydrating properly to fuel that body after all that exercise. I'm betting Mom is making sure of that! Lorraine, safe travels home today! I'm glad you and DSIL had a nice time together. Good news about your walking levels improving since your hip replacement surgery. We knew you could do it with your past experience in therapy. Looks like #2 recipe is the favored one for most everyone today. And thanks for your kind comments about Ren. He's such a good boy. If you met him you'd be charmed by him. Of course I may be a teeny bit biased. Oh, thank you very much! But who's cooking...you? 😉 Thanks for comments on Ren. I'm sure FC Dallas is very happy he will be joining the team August 1st, and that they invited him to play as a guest during this big tournament. The coach hasn't put him in during the first half yet, but I imagine the veteran FC Dallas players and their parents wouldn't be happy to have them taken out to put a guest player in as starter. But I'm sure he's won over their hearts with his efforts during the past three games. However, Ren is still a Michigan Jaguars team player and has a busy schedule coming up with that team, too. I see on my Google calendar Apr. 22-24 games in Minneapolis and Milwaukee, May 12-15 in a Bethesda tournament, and May 20 a game in Indianapolis. The weekend after that is big brother's graduation so no games on my calendar, at least. I refuse to look past May 31st for June and July games and tournaments. No wonder Ren stays so slim! Thanks for your encouraging comments. I wish I could help that relative, but all I can do is support them emotionally. Nothing I can do to change the circumstances.😟 DH is home now and got everything taken care of. What a sweetheart! He does so much for me. Is today appreciate your sweetheart day? It is for me! And by the way, the clouds have cleared and we are currently experiencing sunny skies. What do those weather people know? 🌞

This is an example of what I use to decorate my cabin door. Nothing that protrudes into the hallway. I may have had a glass of wine or two before taking this photo. (can't straighten it out here. Lol!) Nice advertising for Cruise Critic, too. I made up the design of it on a Word document, printed it and slid it into this sturdy clear sleeve with magnetic tape on the back so it would stay on the door. On Prinsendam these would be placed at the end of the little hallway to our cabin, an oceanview on deck 5 Dolphin deck. Anyone remember those? It was about 6-7 feet long off the main corridor and there was a door on each side of the little hallway. One to your own room and one to the room next door to yours. One day DH was returning to our room and saw a man leave the little hallway to our cabin and head for the atrium stairwell, holding my door sign. He followed him and confronted him. The man (Australian accent) said I was just going to take it up to show my wife. DH said no you aren't and took it away from him. I'm glad the dummy didn't get away with it. I just found another photo of my door sign on a different cruise and this may have even been the cruise it was almost stolen! Here is deck 5 Dolphin deck on Prinsendam (now Phoenix Reisen Amera) showing the little hallways that branched off of it. I sure miss that ship! But just wanted to show those who think all door decor is tacky and dangerous that that's not always true. I liked it and sometimes neighbors would say thanks for posting that so I can find my room, plus they enjoyed looking at it.

Jacqui, we don't mind hearing about your stubborn healing and unhappy elbow. I hope the doctors are keeping an eye on your progress and have some ideas on how to help it heal and keep you comfortable. I should be taking my own advice and getting an appointment at my doctor's office. My shoulder, upper back and bicep are in pain the past couple weeks and I've been babying it. Nothing is getting better so I need to find out what's wrong and hopefully get help. But I keep putting it off. Perhaps I'll make a call today and set something up. Your post has spurred me on to do that. 👍 Debbie @dfish they all three look good to me. I like 🥕s too! #2 does look delicious! Eva, how interesting to see the tartans displayed like that on the map of Canada. Very cool! We hope and pray the issues you are having to deal with are soon gone so you can get back to your old raucous self. I understand completely because I have one relative with a major problem and it doesn't look like it will resolve itself in a satisfactory manner. Nothing we can do but go on and hope for the best. Just keep posting though!!

❤️❤️⚽❤️❤️⚽ Big brother's name is Kai and he was accepted into UCLA first. So nice to hear you think it's the best of the western schools. He will be far from home and his Aunt (my DDIL's sister) doesn't live in L.A. anymore. She's been living in Italy the past year or so and is going to a business college in Rome. I hope he won't be homesick. Neither of my kids were the homesick type and they went away to college. I'm looking forward to attending Kai's high school graduation on May 26. 🎓 Karen, thank you! Fingers crossed the next game they do half as well.🤞 Thanks Annie for your good wishes for the boys. Talk about super achievers! That branch of the family tree is amazing! Thank you Lenda. Seeing that score jump up every 2 minutes was mind boggling. It would have been so great to see it. His DM was there but his DF was tied up teaching classes. I bet my son was jumping up and down in excitement watching it online. Hopefully Kai was too but he's not as big on sports as most kids. He plays a little tennis and ran cross country, and leaves the soccer excitement to his younger brother. Thank you coach Graham! You must know how Ren and those players felt as they dominated the game yesterday. Thanks Ann! Sometime they are going to have to lose but I hope it's not during this Dallas Cup! I will try to take a loss gracefully if it happens.😇

Bon Voyage everyone!

Good morning friends! I am sleepy this morning and my eyes haven't adjusted to being opened yet. Either that or I suddenly need a new prescription for my glasses. This morning we are pretty warm at 65F, it will be a mostly cloudy day and 83 for a high. Hope the weather is good where you are but I suspect some are caught up in these incessant storms that keep crossing our midwest and into the east. Stay safe out there! Thank you Rich @richwmn for the Fleet Report and Daily information and for keeping it updated when things change suddenly. Our days today are California Poppy Day, National Tartan Day, and National Walking Day. It is also Holy Thursday also referred to as Maundy Thursday. I'm sure if the poppies are blooming in California people will be driving out to see them and posting photos of themselves sitting among them. I see that almost every year. National Tartan Day is one people seem to care about a lot. I doubt my family even has a tartan though. National Walking Day is going to be a popular one because quite a few of us like walking. I'll be doing that after this is posted on the Daily. Hope everyone likes the quote. Our menu suggestion is Mandarin Pork Stir Fry which should be quite tasty. Can't wait to see Debbie's @dfish recipes and photos. The drink sounds delish and the pinot noir will be a great addition to the bar stock. Wish I liked red wine though. thank you Ann @cat shepard and Dixie @summer slope for those reports. And finally, thank you Rich @richwmn for our Day in History. 1889 was a long time ago! Many of us moved on from rolled film and began using digital cameras and eventually our cell phones. Can you imagine limiting your photos to a few on rolls of film nowadays? An amazing bit of progress. I'm sure Vanessa @JazzyV was kept busy noting all our concerns and accomplishments and will present us a detailed list of Care and Celebrations. Prayers will be said for all on the Care list, and thankfully some are coming off that list. But today we hope for a good scan for Annie @marshhawk. Also hope for a good days for Jacqui and Kathi @Scrapnana whom we don't hear about too often. May things go well for both of them. 🙏 But let's also cheer on the Celebrations list. I hope everyone enjoys their happy events and cruising adventures! 🥂🎉 Congratulations to FC Dallas, Ren and his teammates!⚽ I hope there is good news in all of your lives. The port today is Gerogetown, Grand Cayman. This is a popular port except for the tender portion of it! This was our first ever port of the day on March 1, 2021!! The second time was January 19, 2022. The links to those dates are listed below for your convenience in retrieving photos. When I looked at March 1, 2021 here is what Rich said in Post #3: Since we have been treated to pictures of various places, I thought I might add a "Port of the Day" for discussion. Today would be Georgetown Grand Cayman Island. What do y'all think? Here is my report on Georgetown, Cayman Islands. I can remember posting these photos several times already but hope they are new to someone. Having been to Georgetown a handful of times, I can say I enjoy it. One visit DH spent some peace and quiet time on the ship ( Dec. 2015 Regal Princess) while I took a tour of the island. My escort that day was Flat Stanley, drawn by my youngest grandson for his school project. We were in possession of him for about a month while we were sailing in the Caribbean. We took photos of him everywhere we went, then I sent along a letter detailing all of Flat Stanley's travels along with photos. I'm sure every classmate's Flat Stanley had quite a lot to tell at the end of the school year! Here we are at the Cayman Turtle Farm. I think this guy (or gal) wanted to get out and come along with me! (That was my entire post on March 1, 2021 for Georgetown, Grand Cayman.) In Dec. 2004 we first went to Georgetown on the old Dawn Princess. Here is a photo taken from the tender as we approached the town. We walked around but didn't take many pictures. I had no idea at the time I would be making photo books for all my cruises, so those early books had a very short supply of photos to choose from. That is the trip we met our late friend John and his wife Jean. We hit it off so well we decided to dine together all 10 days. It was amusing to see him scan the menu, then pick the "always available" steak, baked potato and a hot fudge sundae every single night! Might as well live it up when cruising, right? In Feb. 2019 we boarded the Rotterdam for a three week Caribbean cruise. We arrived in Georgetown after a 21 knot cruise from Curacao. While walking around the town we checked inside the Elmslie Memorial United Church. And the outside of the church. Then we saw the Peace Memorial Building with the historic clock tower outside it. The cenotaph where Remembrance Day ceremonies are held. Here's the Aspiration monument which is a tribute to Caymanian women located in Heroes Square. The Legislative Assembly Building. Another hot day in the Cayman Islands. I hope you all have a great, safe and Tremendous Thursday!!

Today is California Poppy Day , National Tartan Day, and National Walking Day Conduct is three-fourths of our life and its largest concern. - Matthew ArnoldMeal Suggestion for today - Mandarin Pork Stir-FryDrink of the Day - Peachy KeenWine of the Day - Calera Pinot Noir Mount Harlan Jensen Vineyard 2019Destination of the Day - Georgetown, Grand Cayman Eurodam At Sea Destination Ocho Rios, Jamaica eta 4-07 Koningsdam Dry Dock Vigor Ship Yard until 4/12 Nieuw Amsterdam At Sea destination Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos eta 4-07 Nieuw Statendam At Sea Destination Half Moon Cay, Bahamas eta 4-07 Oosterdam At Sea Destination Oranjestad Aruba, Netherlands Antilles eta 4-07 Rotterdam New York City, New York a0700 Volendam Castries, St Lucia 0800-1800 Zaandam At Sea Destination Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico Riviera eta 4-07 Zuiderdam Casablanca, Morocco 07:00 - 21:00Eastern Hemisphere Noordam At Sea Destination Sydney, NSW Australia eta 4-08 Westerdam Kobe/Osaka, Japan 0800(+1)-16:00 Sandi for Rich and Roy

Just jumping back in here before I turn this computer off for the night to say it seems the Rotterdam had a brief time going off track a little while ago. I was looking at the positions of the ships and saw Rotterdam wasn't heading north anymore and was turned westerly. When I zoomed in I saw it was off Atlantic City. Then someone on the ship posted they noticed the change in direction and heard helicopters around so we are assuming there was a medical evacuation. They seem to be going back to the north again. Some passengers may not have even noticed. Not far to go to New York. Maureen, looks and sounds like good news for your DH. I'm sorry though to hear about your EMT friend's husband passing. I hope arrangements can be made so you can attend the service. Prayers for everyone who knew him.

One of the three sites I use to track the ships show you moving back into a northerly position. The other two are obviously slower to react. Did you see or hear the helicopter overhead?

I just noticed that on cruisemapper.com and marinetraffic.com. Turned west near Atlantic City. I think you're right about a medical evac.

Ahh! One of my favorite botanical gardens too! Do you remember I featured them when Hobart was Port of the Day on the Fleet Report and Daily. I'm glad you decided on seeing it!

I've been occupied a lot of the day but have been keeping up with reading the Daily. So much news from this crowd! Good to hear Joy @Seasick Sailor is doing better, but pulling weeds sounds like a lot of work for someone so ill recently. Please take care! Also good luck to Annie @marshhawk tomorrow with your scan. We have you on our prayer list! Hoping all the "nasty virus" sufferers are past the worst of it. I'm sorry if I fail to mention people but rest assured I do read your posts and care about you all. 🙏 During dinner prep we were being updated by DS about the 4 to 6 pm central time soccer game. At halftime the score was 2 to 0 FC Dallas. But Ren wasn't in yet. He was put in after halftime and within 2 minutes scored. Before I could type an exclamatory response (Yay Ren!), DS typed that he just scored again! He was back in his usual spot, striker (scorer) position. 4 to 0. Then the other two top scorers scored and before I knew it FC Dallas was 7 to 0. Ren assisted one of his teammates to score, then Ren scored two more. Yep he scored 4 goals and one assist. The final score was 10 to 0! It was breathtaking keeping up with such rapid scoring. Wish I could have seen it! DS has a flight back to Dallas tomorrow to be there for the remainder of the tournament, and DDIL will fly to I think Austin for a run this weekend. She's into running. I get dizzy thinking about everything they fit into one week! Maxine @AncientWanderer I asked for the final decision about colleges and older brother to Ren has decided on UCLA! Sorry but it won't be USC as you were hoping for. Apparently USC wanted someone other than a #2 in class, 1580 SAT scorer, speaks English, French, and Mandarin and is first viola in the school orchestra-type student! What more do they want?? I'm sure he will be happy at UCLA. 🎓 So yeah, it's been a busy day.🥴

You really know your soccer, Graham! With your past experience and knowledge you should be a coach for a young group of soccer players. It IS a lot of work though and you have cruises and vacations planned so forget I said that. 😂 Thanks for explaining the right and left wing for me. I'll remind Ren to practice right and left foot kicking.⚽ 🏃‍♂️ Excellent record keeping Ann! Many happy birthday wishes to you Edi!🎂 I think the quote is a not so easily understand version of the saying "guests and fish stink after 3 days".

Good morning Graham. Thanks for the great explanations today of our various days of celebration. It helps to understand some of the weird days people decide we must celebrate each every year. Sorry about the rain but we were getting sick of it here so we sent some across the pond to you!!😆